Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission needs new members

Commissioner John Azarro gave a generally upbeat report to the board of supervisors Monday about the work of the Mendocino County Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission, but noted more commissioners were needed.

"We have a very committed active group of people who for a long time have been meeting once a month to look at issues of juvenile justice," Azarro said. Azarro, who is a court-appointed special advocate for youth and also works as a mentor for young people, has served on the commission for five years.

Azarro said the commission sits as two bodies. As the Juvenile Justice Commission, he said, "we meet regularly with Dave Nelson, juvenile court judge, Jim Brown from the Probation Department, and Buck Ganter from Juvenile Hall."

"We also meet with important people from our community who attend our meetings?important in their involvement with youth?such as the sheriff, the former district attorney and the superintendent of schools."

Ganter said the Juvenile Justice Commission was charged with inspecting and filing reports on group homes in the county. "We go to Juvenile Hall and have lunch with the kids, spend time with kids individually, talk to them about how they're doing, if there's any grievance procedures necessary."

Azarro praised the Probation Department?"They do a very tough job, and they do it very well"?as well as Juvenile Hall. "Buck runs Juvenile Hall in a wonderful way; the kids there are doing well; it's amazing how positive it is to be there."

"I've had the chance to go in and do drum circles with these kids," Azarro said. "To see kids come in staring at the floor and disbelieving, and then drumming and smiling and communicating?. That's the kind of good energy that's happening there."

The second half of the commission's job is preventing delinquency. "We put a lot of energy into delinquency prevention," Azarro said.

The commission put out a series of "Change the World, Become a Mentor" brochures last year, and is working with other organizations in the community that interface with youth to help expand their work.

"Truancy is a major issue," Azarro noted. "We have a situation in our country where one-quarter of the kids who reach ninth grade don't graduate, they drop out." One local issue is the December closing of the Ukiah branch of Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization. "That's a gap that really could be filled," Azarro said. "We already have mentors who are trained and screened and matched up."

Azarro said he'd talked to Redwood Children's Services and North Coast Opportunities about taking on a Big Brothers/Big Sisters-type project. "It would be great if we could find a way to do that; it's a big deal."

Azarro also talked about the former Teen Peer Court program, which he called "a very successful activity" for juvenile first offenders charged with minor offenses who admitted to the offense. "It was a mock trial, but it was serious," Azarro said. "It showed kids: This is what it's like [to be tried], and you're going to have consequences for what you've done, get it? The kids got it." Participants were required to come back twice after their own "trial" to serve as volunteer jurors or attorneys.

Juvenile Division Manager Jean Gentzer told the board funding for the Teen Peer Court came from federal crime prevention funds that have been cut 50 percent. She said 90 percent of the teen offenders involved "followed through on what the teen court imposed," which included community service and apology letters.

"We always find out that kids are harder on each other than we are," Gentzer said.

Azarro asked the supervisors to help find additional members to serve on the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission: "Although we have a very active and dedicated core of commissioners, we only have half-a-dozen, and we could use a dozen. A big goal is to double the size of our commission, so we can do more and reach more people."

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission meets on the third Friday of every month (March 16 this month) at 585 Low Gap Road in Ukiah, from noon to 2 p.m. Anyone interested in becoming a youth mentor or a commissioner can attend a commission meeting or leave a message at 467-8257.